Sunday, September 30, 2012

Week In Review-Preview, and The Dare Begins

Today I begin the fourth round of A Round of Words in 80 Days for 2012.  The actual round begins tomorrow, Monday, October 1.  However, I like to start a day early, which makes the Sunday/Wednesday reporting line up better with the beginning and end of the challenge.

What is A Round of Words in 80 Days?

It's a writing dare, or challenge, that goes on almost continuously. It's divided into 80 day round -- four quarters -- with about 10 days off after every round.  Writers can jump in and out of the process at will, even in the middle of a round if they want to.

The goal of ROW80 is like the goal of this blog: to make writing a part of your daily life, instead of some extraordinary, one month a year, thing.  This is about your writing life.

Writers set their own goals, change them as necessary.  We report in twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Summary of Goals

I posted a detailed description of my goals on Wednesday, but here is a summary:

My strategy for the year is to treat this blog like a magazine and make it the center of my writing life.  I'm posting the short episodes of an online novel on Mondays and Thursdays, as well as a comic strip once a month. I'm also posting commentary on writing on Wednesdays, and reviews/criticism/commentary on various movies and books as a "Friday Favorites" feature.

To that end, I will:

  • Post here six days a week.  (Sunday-Friday at 8am EST.)
  • Devote 20 hours a week to this "job" of writing, editing, illustrating and publishing.

Within that time and effort, I hope to also publish three books this fall.  Two of them are completed drafts. (One is the serial I posted this summer, the other is the serial I'm about to start posting.) The other is a mostly finished but stalled book that I think I'm ready to take up again.

And now for the weekly review and preview:

This Past Week's Posts

I began last week with an expanded Sunday update post -- which garnered a lot of attention:


Coming This Week

Monday: The Misplaced Hero  credit cookie - "And What About Lina?"
As a teaser for next summer's story, we follow Lina as she tries to get her book back from Rozinshura.

Tuesday: Miss Leech and The Yard #2
A cozy mystery comic strip.

Wednesday: How I Organize To Write  A Book
In reaction to a similar post by Elizabeth Spann-Craig, I'll tell you a little about my convoluted "pre-production" process.

Thursday: Misplaced Hero Wrap Up
Titles, and process, and where the story is (or may be) going.

Friday Favorites: Foyle's War
The BBC mystery series is an interesting counterpoint to Casablanca.  Also, I'm in love with Foyle.


See you in the funny papers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck this round :)

The Daring Novelist said...

Thanks, Ryan!